Kroger Expands Ground Beef Recall to Kentucky, So. Indiana

by kespeland on July 3, 2008

Kroger has expanded a recall of ground beef potentially contaminated with the E.coli bacteria to include Kentucky, southern Indiana, and northern Tennessee. The store asks customers to bring any ground beef sold in Styrofoam trays marked with sell-by dates between May 21st and July 3rd back to their store for a full refund.

Seattle attorney Bill Marler has sued both the supplier of the contaminated meat—Nebraska Beef in Omaha—and Kroger on behalf of an Ohio woman who fell ill with E.coli. Marler says big grocery store chains should share the responsibility for the outbreak with their suppliers, in part because they don’t move quickly enough to recall bad meat.

“The other reason why big grocery stores continue to have this problem of getting contaminated meat is the fact that they’re not putting enough pressure on their up-stream suppliers to get E. coli –which is ultimately cattle feces—out of their hamburger,” says Marler.

Marler says slaughter houses can take measures to ensure the bacteria stays out of the finished product. A Kroger spokesman says the company acted to expand the recall as soon as stores received word from their corporate office. And company materials say the chain is recalling more ground beef than is probably necessary. Also included in the recall is Kroger’s Private Selection Natural ground beef with sell-by dates between July 11 through July 21.